Fascinating but flawed
If you're looking for a bold and innovative take on the adventure/shooter genre, then this little known Russian game is well worth seeking out. It's not quite perfect, largely thanks to its sheer ambition, but whatever faults it has can be overlooked due to its generally well implemented features. The story and background are fascinating and quite scary, and find a remote Russian village which has been separate from civilization for some time coming under attack by a deadly plague. The player takes control of one of three potential saviours, each with unique skills and with their own separate but interconnected storylines. The gameplay itself is a mixture of first person shooter and RPG-style adventure, with the player exploring the gameworld, completing a variety of missions and interacting with the town's inhabitants. You also have to worry about things like hungry and energy levels, you can also become infected yourself while the town must be saved in a certain time. There are also plenty of moral decisions to take, as well a combat and trading, making this a pretty ambitious mix of gameplay styles. There is a superb sense of atmosphere to this game, which really captures the sense of dread in a small town under threat, an this is enhanced by some fantastic audio work. The open-ended nature is also highly appealing and well implemented, and it is rarely less than enthralling to explore the world, figuring out the puzzles and storyline as you go. However, there is a lot of dialogue to wade through and the quests can be a little simplistic, while the world is so large that you spend a lot of time simply wandering around. If you can get past these flaws though, there is a fascinating and brave game to experience here, so take a look if you enjoy things like Fahrenheit.
